What Is The Difference Between Jack And Ralph In Lord Of The Flies

In the novel Lord of the Flies, the characters Ralph, Piggy, and Jack are all developed in great detail, with emphasis on their backgrounds and individual characteristics. Ralph for example is described as an athletic, fair boy, who is a charismatic leader, while at the same time is unsure about the big decisions in crucial moments, and lacks the vison to always see what needs to be done when it is on the line. Early on in the novel on page 23 he is elected leader when “Every hand outside the choir except Piggy’s was raised immediately. Then Piggy, too, raised his hand grudgingly into the air. Ralph counted. “I’m chief then.” The circle of boys broke into applause.” As chief, Ralph represents order, civilization, and the only form of productive

leadership on the island. Ralph, before any of the others seemed to understand because they were too busy off playing in the sand, realized the need for shelters and rules and order on the island to keep everything from falling into tyranny. On page 79 he attempts to establish a series of rules and take initiative in preventing the bad habits of the island by saying “We need an assembly.

Not for fun. Not for laughing and falling of the log, not for making jokes, or for cleverness. Not for these things. But to put things straight.” The page right before this example of leadership and order, though, shows one of Ralphs main weaknesses where it is said “The trouble was, if you were a chief you had to think, you had to be wise. And then the occasion slipped by so that you had to grab at a decision. This made you think; because thought was a valuable thing, that got results…. Only, Ralph decided as he faced the chief’s seat, I can’t think. Not like Piggy.” This is the first instance where Ralph as chief doubted himself, even with all of his great leadership qualities, and identified the one quality he didn’t have that he needed most, thought and decision making. This might have been why throughout the novel Ralph and Piggy stuck together and were always there for each other, Piggy was the only one Ralph portrayed his true self to, and stayed with through everything, even when Piggy was the worst, slowest, and least capable of surviving alone

with.
Piggy is the whiny, fat, asthmatic, never respected child, that would be the last one chosen as a survival partner. Even with all these negative aspects, he still is the only character who sticks to reality and facts, when everyone else goes off crazy. He represents the scientific, intellectual aspects that are needed on the island, and is the boys’ anchor to reality throughout the novel. One of the first instances with Piggy is on page 14 where he bluntly states “They’re all dead, an’ this is an island. Nobody don’t know we’re here. Your dad don’t know, nobody don’t know—.” Even with his youth, he is still able to identify the hard truth before anyone else and soon after on page 15 he tries to find the only others so they can form some kind of group, “We’ve got to find the others. We got to do something…. How many of us are there?” and then he finds a way to unite everyone with the discovery of a conch “S’right. It’s a shell! I seen one like that before. On someone’s back wall. A conch he called it. He used to blow it and then his mum would come. It’s ever so valuable—.” These first few aspects portray how useful Piggy will be throughout the novel in an effort to bring science and the hard reality to the island; he is the key to any advancements in technology, such as a sun dial, and eventually his specs become the key to having fire as well. As previously stated, Piggy and Ralph stay together perpetually, and Piggy represents everything Ralph is not and vice versa. They work together, even to the disgust sometimes of Ralph, throughout the story and they are both the only person the other one truly trusts and is open with, up until the end when Piggy meets his fate, and once Piggy is out of the picture, it signals the end for Ralph.
The man in sole responsibility for the demise of both the previous characters is a boy named Jack.

Jack is the strong willed egomaniac, who is secretly insecure and uses face paint and the fear of the beast for power and control. He represents the unbridled savagery, violence, and desire for power that is existent on the island. Early on, when he loses the election to Ralph he becomes furious, and not soon after on page 23 does he suggest the task for his group “Ralph waved again for silence. “Jack’s in charge of the choir. They can be—what do you want them to be?” “Hunters.”” From this moment on Jack becomes obsessed with hunting, and none of the other things such as the fire, the shelters, or the assemblies, seem to matter, but even though his obsession begins early, it isn’t until later when he realizes his full potential. Sure he hunted the pigs and loved the activity, but it wasn’t until he removed himself and his past values that he began killing. On page 63, Jack decides to paint his face thereby removing his true self from the activity and now he is protected by the mask and is able to fully immerse himself in the hunting and become fond of the killing “A rounded patch of sunlight fell on his face and a brightness appeared in the depths of the water. He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger. He split the water and leapt to his feet, laughing excitedly. Beside the pool his sinewy body held up a mask that drew their eyes and appalled

them. He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling. He capered toward Bill, and the mask was a thing of its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness.” This event was the turning point from Jack as a human to Jack as a mad savage, personifying the evil existent on the island, and not letting anyone get in the way of his killing. Once Jack himself was out of the way, anything was possible, and him with his trained choir were the force that tore the, once innocent island, to shreds. Jack is the antithesis to Ralph and their power control is like that of a balance, as one side increased the other decreased. An interesting note is how Ralph and Jack as leaders treat their common people or the littluns, Ralph looks to protect the young and advance the good of the group, while Jack uses them to gratify his personal desires and for his personal amusement.
Each of these characters is expertly defined by Golding, and each one adds a completely new element to the situation. Whether it is Ralph with his need for order and civilization, Piggy with his call back to reality, or Jack with his savagery and madness, they all personify they need or true human nature in all of us. Madness may work for a while, but eventually, through all the craziness, a sense of some kind a civilization always prevails, people need order in their lives, and somehow it constantly seems to manifest, even when the hope was all but lost.